Life as Myne

Carwen who became Myne, utilized her acting skills, gradually 'improving her attitude' now that she felt better.

No more fevers, but still too weak to go out beyond their house as she never did anything physical all her life to build up stamina.

Thus she learns things a five year old should know...by peasant standards.

Behavior. Household Chores and how things work. What are this and that called. Time-telling. Days of the week. Seasons, etc.

The parents are very hands-on with their kids in social interaction or teaching things. And they change their daughters' clothes!

She never experienced any of these things.

And Gunther her father, would get her exercise.

Sure, he carries her downstairs first, as outside their apartment, it's cold, cramped, and smelly. But is made to walk with her family outside.

The roads are enough for two horse carriages in two-way comfort. Outside is buildings made the medieval way. Of wood and concrete with plaster. All buildings are always two floors of concrete, wooden upstairs. Unless you're rich enough to afford concrete all the way!

At first she could not last five minutes. Requiring a break by picking her up for five minutes, then walk...repeat.

On the streets are no letters.

But picture signs of what the shop is for.

Bakery - drawing of a bread loaf.

Poultry Shop - silhouette of a chicken.

Tailor's Shop - drawing of a sewing machine.

Things like that.

And all kids must help out, so parents can focus on working for money. Still paid by the hour.

Gunther earns 100.000 as Captain-Rank in the gate, and Effa earns 50.000 as a Dye Worker. They work for eight hours a day, with Gunther at morning shift so he can go home and sleep at night.

But still?

If you wanna wee or poo, it's the 'pot'. Garbage and...toilet mess are chucked out the window as there's no piping. Everything is thrown out at night, for the Night Sweepers to deal with while everyone else sleeps. Thus the smelly thankless job falls on them thus by morning, no crap in the alleyways in-between apartments.

But understandably, the smell remains even if you clean the streets.

Water alone just won't cut it.

You need soap, too! And large amounts of water to do so.

While soap is expensive, its not worth the money as when Myne once used psychometry spell to analyze the soap in their house, it's made of animal fat, not plant or fruit oil!

Understandably, its disgusting. So one day, she popped the question.

She asked her mother, 'Mom, how is soap made?' Myne asked her mother when helping with the dishes.

'Well, from what I got its mostly oil from animal fat and 'special water'. The process is a secret.' said Effa. 'I snuck around as a kid and nearly got caught as workshops keep the process of their products a tight secret.' she said. 'After all, one whose product is better sells better. An apprentice sneaking around in workshops to steal secrets will get you heavy punishment even if you're a kid!'

'Heee...what punishment?'

'Because you clearly can't be trusted, you'll be a known thief for life! Nobody will hire you as a result and everyone will scorn your family for raising a kid like that.' Effa told her. 'I snuck around before as I wanted to know how soap was made to make my own as this thing we have now, sucks, and doesn't wash clothes very good, not to mention you smell like slaughterhouse in the farms for meat...' she said in disgust. 'But I have to give up or nobody will hire me for any work and nobody will marry me either. That's worse than getting publicly smacked with a stick twenty times.'

Yeah, Myne can agree that's so severe. It goes without saying you do NOT tell anyone your secrets. Secrets can make or break.

Lucky for Effa, Myne knows how!

And they have a source of oil in the house. Namely, that Merill fruit Tuuli brings home. And ashes on the stove for her to make lye.

Combine a certain amount of both, and mix it well to induce saponification...and cure to make soap!

But one must be careful. Balance must be met as excess lye will irritate skin!

'Dad, can you make me a container tray?' Myne asked Gunther over dinner a week after that conversation.

'A container tray?'

'Yup...I wanna try making our own soap.' Myne proposed as her whole family gawked.

'Ehh?! But we don't even know how that's made, other than oil!' Tuuli choked out. 'How will you figure out the rest?'

'I'll do it no matter what since I can't go out enough to do forest work!' Myne pouted. 'I'll try and try till I get it right! So Tuuli, bring me home fruits that make a lot of oil OK? I'll try fruit oil since animal oil stinks!'

'Ehhh here goes nothing...' Tuuli scratched her head, baffled.

Nobody knows, but the soap-makers themselves...thing is, Myne needs her own equipment. Her own pot and stirring spoon as what she uses for making soap, cannot be used for cooking ever again. NOT SAFE.

Myne waited for the mold to be made first. A box mold. That, and an area in the storage room had to be wiped clean so no dust will stick to end product!

Took a week to get it.

While her family is out, Myne makes lye water by boiling ashes till what was left becomes Lye, and she opened all windows and their door so the smell will go away. Her magic helps. It was good that the ashes were from hard wood, not soft wood. Soft wood tends to contain resin which is not ideal and affect end results.

Then gathering lye and mixing the oil she got, and she'll use the Hot Process to cure soap faster for use.

She has enough for six large bars by the size of her father's mold.

'And now we wait for two days for them to harden.' just to be double sure, after the soap was solid enough to be cut! And sure enough?

'It smells a lot better!' her whole family marveled. 'And makes more lather!'

'I can't wait to use this on Earthday!' Effa squealed. 'Laundry with this!'

"Mom, shouldn't we bathe too?" Myne sweatdropped. Merill has moisturizing properties for skin and hair, and great with removing dirt and grease! Sadly, its not powerful enough to remove...dye stains and bled colors...but its main purpose is bathing, OK?

Thus on Earthday...Gunther rented a wagon, and helped his ladies move all that needs washing to the forest so they can wash in rivers. As a soldier who has to deal with nobles and visitors, he was constantly clean and smelling fresh as he and his company are bathing in the barracks once a day. One before shift! And every day, the Leherls and Lehanges wash their seniors' uniforms.

They soaked the clothes in water, then rubbed soap all over everything, and worked the washboard, then rinsed everything. Due to limited sizes of their tubs, they did everything by batch. And being poor, they owned few outfits and underwear to begin with. Their entire closet, plus their bed sheets and pillowcases!

The water, was a horrifying dark gray in color, Myne noted to her disgust. Effa and Tuuli are just as horrified.

'This is because that soap we used to buy is just awful that doesn't clean much!' Effa exclaimed. 'With Myne's soap, our clothes look and smell a lot cleaner now!'

Then rubbed soap again and soaked the clothes in lather for ten minutes, before working the board again. They then hung everything to dry on a clothesline they propped up after squeezing the first batch dry. This way, they can wear something fresh afterward on the way home.

The final batch was where their current clothing is. All of them...starkers while bathing with their new soap, and rubbing themselves with coarse cloth.

Once they're done bathing and has clean clothes on which is understandably a bit wrinkly, they washed their final batch which is their bedding, and tossed their previous outfits in it too.

All done. They have no more bars left. Their last one solely for dishwashing at home, the other five went to laundry and bath. Then wait for it to dry under the sun, while they cooked a rather late lunch to eat. Then two hours before sunset, they gathered and folded everything, before going home on their wagon.

It took till closing time and they got home on time before Gates are declared closed.

'Phew, we made it in time.' Effa gasped out as they got home with Gunther. 'Kids, watch the wagon and our things while your father and I carry our stuff upstairs.'

'Yes mom!'

It took four round trips, and then Gunther returned the borrowed wagon to the gates.

Cleanliness did their morale great. Getting to wear cleaner, fresher clothes and a bath, even if they worked up a sweat in doing final laundry batch. At least they're no longer sticky, and greasy in their own skin and hair.

Their bedding at least, is fresh and smelling real nice. It was among the last things they had to wash. It was also the last to dry under the sun.

Myne stayed home for much of the year, doing cleaning as she still can't last long. She cleans and cooks. Thus has nice soups to look forward to and she was 'easily the best cook in the family' that they can't wait to come home to eat her soup! Tuuli forages in the forest, and brings home goodies...particularly goods they can get oil out of for this coming winter. And Myne slowly increases her height week by week, till she caught up to Tuuli's height.

They need oil for cooking and oil for lamps. Thus her stock for soapmaking, will be just enough to last them in summer, for laundry and bath every Earthday. This way for the entire winter, they have clean clothes and bedding!

But while her family is out?

Cleaning, takes a snap of her fingers. Well, as far as a five year old can reach, anyway.

She spent her time getting fit.

Taking off her clothes, she did push-ups. Squats. Jumping Jacks. High-Intensity Jog-in-Place, which she ensured with magic, running at her fastest as speed was her pride in her past life...due to bullying issues, and a threat on her life come teens. And stretching. Once she can sense Tuuli come home, she magics away her sweat and cools down her body and keeps vanishing sweat still coming out of her, and puts her clothes on and pretend nothing's happened.

Her family is recovering as well as herself in health.

The fruit and vegetables here, are extremely high in nutrition due to their magical properties.

But everyone and their grandma...scalds their soups by throwing initial stock away, where the goodies are! WTF?! This was because of the scum that floats up, so they thought initial boiling is 'dirty', so they throw it away!

So yes, she designated herself as family cook. And when Tuuli is home, she taught Tuuli what was wrong that 'Myne discovered when she tried it'. Though she found it laborious to remove the scum she called 'froth'.

'I guess its all for the sake of good food.' Tuuli sighed.

So they adopted Myne's way since. No more sour-salty soups. They eat deliciously ever since. There was also a side effect that they take time to get hungry too. Even if they eat in mealtimes. They just absolutely have to in fear of getting hungry during work in the case of their parents. Myne wondered if this was because it's so nutritious. Each soup, heals their malnutrition per meal. That in the case of growing children like Tuuli and Myne, they heal from years of malnutrition first, before they get their growth spurt. The goods develop their underdeveloped bones and organs.

They're getting stronger.

And now, come autumn?

Family is busy at work for Winter Preparations that Myne now gets to participate in.

'Alright Myne, we taught you what you need to do, so Tuuli and I can focus on gathering materials OK?' Effa told Myne.

She was taught how to make oil out of tallow...which stinks, by the way...for lamp oil.

They then melted their sources of wax for candle-making.

'We really make all this at home huh?' Myne asked Tuuli with a pout as Tuuli brought home wax.

'Well, we're too poor to afford pre-made candles...' said Tuuli sheepishly. 'So we really have to buy cheaper materials, and make our own.' she explained, secretly getting Myne exasperated.

Handmade goods are expensive, as labor fees are taken way seriously in here.

With a combined salary of 150000 rions, a candle costs 100 already. The hell?

Her family would rather buy food and clothes with that kinda money.

They already began prepping in mid-summer.

Winter Prep takes as long as midsummer till end of autumn.

Midsummer was the hottest time of the year, good for gathering firewood and dry them in time for use come winter. Fresh wood will cause too much smoke when burnt.

Actually, there was a 'madman incident' going around...involving Gunther.

Armed with an axe, it takes him three strong whacks to fell a tree. And processes everything else all by himself.

People remarked he suddenly got so strong!

'My daughter just recently recovered from what looked like a lifelong illness since she was born, getting firewood for winter as fast as possible is crucial!' So yes, he worked 'like crazy'.

Didn't take him long to fill their storerooms with 'winter use only' firewood.

But because his superiors got wind of his sudden boost in strength because of his worries, he was asked about his daughter's 'lifelong illness'. His bosses - father-in-law included among them - had no idea what that illness was either and he was asked to bring Myne to work once, and she was indeed, 'too tiny to be five years old', understanding the man's fear this coming winter. But his strength is important that if he can fell a hardwood tree with just three whacks, why is he still a Captain?

He got promoted to Major. A Major's salary is 220000 lions or two large silver and two small silver. Just that, he was under training before he can officially start in his new post, with pay to match. So he had to improve his literacy, grammar, math and calculator use, mastering his new duties and getting better in combat skills.

Because Effa and Tuuli keeps bringing home materials for her to work with when it's salary day, Myne cheats her way with magic. To have clean oil for lamps, and makes instant candles, which they store away with great care. Though it wasn't just lighting material...Tuuli also brings home odd things. Materials she says its for Winter Crafts to sell come spring.

In fact, she spends most of her time...exercising. Again. So when her family sees her tired, it wasn't because of oil and candles.

And this never stops. You need excess incase of stuff happens.

And come autumn? They're on a wagon going out.

'...where are we going?' Myne asked her family.

'To the farm. Because we'll hardly get vegetables and edibles from the forests, we need to stock up on meat.' Effa explained patiently. 'If before we boiled and pickled meat, we'll smoke some this time, so we'll borrow a shed for smoking meat.'

'Daddy bought us two whole pigs!' Gunther grinned. 'That much, along with our current stock should be enough to last us till early spring!'

"Hopefully these people know how to butcher meat properly!" was Myne's anxious worry. You just don't butcher a pig, do whatever with any part and call it a day!

There's hard parts and soft parts, suitable into different types of cooking and preservations!

xxx

Outside the city...were signs of harvest work.

Wheat and Barley are harvested into bundles already. Soon to be threshed and put into sacks, while stalks are useful as livestock feed for winter.

Medieval roads aren't even flattened. It's bumpy due to the soil being loose loam. Uncomfortable. No wonder her family preferred to walk that ride in it.

Upon arrival, it's already mayhem in there.

'Oh no! They already started!'

'Hurry girls!'

In a way, it was fun, after the bloody part was dealt with.

Blood was thrown away, when in Britain, blood was included in sausage-making. She also finds it gross but in British History of the poor, as long as you don't starve anything is fair game, and one has to get creative with it.

They made potted meat, sausages and bacon. All of which, seasoned with salt before being smoked!

They have to keep up the smoking by coming back here for days, before final laundry day.